journal entry
Palette Tour and Layout Switches
The starter now shows how the same structure can feel different through palette choices and sidebar toggles.
One of the nicest things about a personal-site theme is when the same structure can hold several moods without turning into three separate codebases.
In this starter, that mostly comes down to two decisions:
Palette choice changes tone fast
Ember feels warm and familiar. Surf feels cooler and more technical. Mint feels a little more zine-like and homegrown.
The layout should stay recognizable even when the color story changes.
Sidebars should be optional
Not every page needs a second column. Standalone pages now render full width by default, and only create a sidebar when the page front matter explicitly asks for it.
---
layout: layouts/page.njk
title: Notes
sidebarTitle: links.txt
sidebar: |
- Add any supporting links here
- Or leave both fields out for a full-width page
---The goal is to make layout choices feel intentional rather than inherited by accident.